Haute Review: Reader by Sunil Shankar meets 1984 meets A Handmaid’s Tale meets Inception

*No spoilers ahead

Les Brown once said, “Too many [people] aren’t living their dreams because they are living their fears.” This echoes in my mind as I watch Reader — a play by Sunil Shankar currently being performed at the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA). Based on the 1995 Play “Reader” by Ariel Dorfman, the show gives off an ominous air of mystery, right from the beginning.

The story revolves around a father-son duo who enjoy a seemingly perfect life but once you start peeling the layers, you find out how fragile their relationship is, with the father shackled by fear and regret, and the son by misery. Dark secrets from the past thrust the duo into a mystery that leads to a fourth wall-breaking climax. Throughout these journeys of realization, we witness moments of epiphany, filled with regret, pain and a sense of loss, brilliantly portrayed by the actors and clever use of set design. 

L TO R: Bazelah Mustafa, Fawad Khan, Hassan Raza and Osama Tahir

Elements of surrealism are prevalent throughout the play, shown beautifully by incongruous scenes in overlapping timelines, presenting a subtle suspension of reality. The play incorporates the “Big Brother” themes from Orwell’s 1984, tyrannical social engineering of A Handmaid’s Tale and the mind-bending Inception-esque clash of timelines and recollection. 

It stars six characters: Daniyal Siddiqui/Danish Hussain (essayed by Fawad Khan), Ms Janan/Ayezah (Bazelah Mustafa), Zain/Jalib Riaz (Hassan Raza), director (Osama Tahir), Tanya/Sonya (Kulsoom Aftab) and the Man (Naveed Kamal). The play is simply magical, filled with morbidly witty allegories co-relating insane asylums to re-education centres, publishing checks to censorship of ideas and the protection of the forest to policing human thought.

A vivid portrayal of dictatorship

The play heavily leans into ideas of fear and how it controls our lives, with a literal personification of fear defining itself as follows:

“Jahan sarhadon ka paas na rakha jaye, hudood, qawaneen ki khilaf warzi ho tou yad rahe wahan koi na koi mujh jaisa zarur khara milega. [Keep in mind that you will find someone like me taking a stand at a place where boundaries are not respected, and constraints and laws are broken].” 

There are ingenious fourth wall breaks throughout the play, with some going so far as to challenge the audience themselves to defend the central character of the story. Set design is phenomenal and a critical part of the play’s narrative. There are two different fully rotating sets kept parallel to each other during the play to create a juxtaposition between different moments in time and viewpoints. The central theme is fear (Khauf) and how it cripples us and stops us from moving ahead, and doing all that we’re capable of. 

Real or matrix?

All in all, Reader is a modern commentary on censorship, classism and policing of thought and resources. It embodies the themes of, “Art imitates life, life imitates art”, while also asking some poignant questions through mind-bending narrative delivery.

Dealing with fear

After the resounding conclusion, you will sit there in deep reflection and thought, the narrative will have merited the deep introspection, and it will create animated conversation if you go watch it with friends. The play deserves both attention and appreciation, and I hope local audiences give it a fair chance. The only qualms I have with the play are that it’s an adaptation, not an original creation.

Reader is being played in NAPA until 27th November, 2022 so, go book your tickets right away!

*Advised for individuals aged 18 and above